2024/07/02 by Chi Hang Cho · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Communism, Protests, Social Movements #Japanese History and Culture
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/27708888.2024.2447004
openalex publication_date 2024/07/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
In the early 1970s, the Japanese United Red Army (URA) engaged in internecine violence at its mountain bases that resulted in the deaths of a dozen people. The URA was believed to have adhered to Mao Zedong’s military thought, and thus taken the path of armed violence, leading to this tragic outcome. This impression-based account, however, has rested solely on fragmented clues, without rigorous and in-depth analysis. Using primary sources such as diaries, letters, and posthumous writings of URA members, as well as publications of new leftist organizations, this study explores the Maoist elements and origins of the URA. This study finds that while Maoism constituted the background for the establishment of the URA, and its members frequently borrowed the language of Mao, they in fact adapted Maoism, selectively employing only the precepts that were convenient for their own operations. In other words, Maoism was merely a symbolic resource that they found useful, and they were not faithful supporters of Mao